Here’s a Tip for You
This looks like it could be a cartoon rendering of deer antlers, but it’s actually the growing tip of red algae, an organism that thrives in salt water near coral reefs or in tide pools.
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DownloadHere’s a Tip for You
This looks like it could be a cartoon rendering of deer antlers, but it’s actually the growing tip of red algae, an organism that thrives in salt water near coral reefs or in tide pools.
What am I looking at?
This is a depth-coded image of the growing tip of red algae, a kind of seaweed. You can see individual cells forming a mosaic pattern as the tip of this submerged algae grows towards the sun. The colors in this image represent the distance each part of the plant is from the viewer. The parts shown in blue and purple are closer to the viewer (1), while those that are yellow and red are farther away (2).
Biology in the background
Red algae are aquatic, preferring salt water and inhabiting coral reefs and tide pools. The organism’s red coloring comes from a pigment called phycoerythrin, which can absorb blue light to feed the algae. Since blue light can penetrate water more effectively than other colors, red algae can survive at greater depths than other algae species. Algae cells are less specialized than plant cells; they don’t form a protective outer layer or nutrient- and water-conducting veins.
Red algae grow to be about 50 centimeters long, or roughly 25 times the width of a human thumbnail.
Technique
This image was created using confocal microscopy.
Nat Prunet, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill